the briefly perilous situation that is second thoughts
by Laura x Tennant
Summary: Tentoo/Rose. Someone is late to their own wedding. Three guesses who.


"I'm really, really sorry," the Doctor told her earnestly, as they dashed up the path to the church. "I didn't mean to be late."

Rose lips twitched, and the Doctor was confused by the fact that Rose really found the whole situation rather amusing. Or, at least, she wasn't angry. "It's fine."

"No, it isn't. I've - oh, no. Jackie is going to kill me, isn't she? I've ruined her special day."

At that, Rose did giggle. "_Her_ special day?"

"_Our_ special day," he corrected hastily. "Ours. I meant ours. Only…well. We're only really doing this because she -" He caught sight of Rose's raised eyebrows when they paused by the doors. " - I'll shut up. I'll just…not talk. That'll be best. Sorry."

Rose squeezed his bicep and leant in to press a kiss to his cheek. "Seriously, it's fine. Don't worry."

He frowned. "You're being very forgiving. Also, calm." His eyes narrowed further. "Why are you so calm?"

"I knew you'd turn up," she shrugged.

"Did you though?"

"Well, yeah. Thought it'd be something alien-related."

"You didn't think I had - I dunno, what's that expression? 'Cold feet.' You didn't think I'd had second thoughts?"

Rose fiddled with her earring for a moment, a lovely little sapphire stud that she kept twisting around periodically. "No. Not until you just said - wait, _did_ you have second thoughts?"

"Nope."

"Sure?"

"Mmm. Just kept panicking that you might think that - I've seen all those soaps of yours, the drama created when one person stands the other up at the altar, all that. I was stranded over the other side of the city caught up with a mild alien threat and I kept thinking that you might - I dunno. Doubt, a bit." His eyes flickered between hers, searching her gaze. "But you didn't. Thank you for trusting me." He cupped the base of her neck and drew her into a surprisingly deep kiss. Rose swayed on her heels to melt into it, looping her arms around his waist.

When he released her mouth, he stroked a strand of her hair back from her face and whispered, "You look really beautiful, by the way. I know I laughed off all your silly traditions, the wearing white and things, but…" He let out a whoosh of breath. "You look really, really gorgeous and - " He leant in close again and lowered his voice. "- if this wasn't a church porch we were standing in, I'd be inclined to - "

Suddenly, the church doors opened and they heard, very clearly and loudly, Jackie Tyler squeak in relief. "There you are! Blimey! You could've phoned, the pair of you! Where've you both been?"

The Doctor was about to launch into his tale of distress, when he frowned at Jackie's phrasing. "Wait, what?" He turned to look at Rose, who wore an expression of pure sheepishness. "What does she mean? Where were you?"

"You weren't together?" asked Jackie in confusion.

The Doctor folded his arms. "No. We weren't. I thought I was late. I lost my phone in a bit of skirmish with some Aldrosians over in Bromley, and - that's not important. But I thought I'd left Rose waiting around outside here, waiting for me to get here. But you weren't, were you, Rose?"

Rose swallowed so significantly that the Doctor could tell, could tell she was bracing herself, resigning herself to making a confession.

Jackie looked between the two of them, and in a rare moment of reflection before she spoke, she realised that maybe they had better sort this out on their own. "I'll, er… I'll go back in, then. Let you two talk. I'll let everyone know that you'll be in in a bit." She turned to go back inside, then abruptly whirled back around to ask, hesitantly, "I mean, you will be, right? There's still gonna be a wedding?"

The Doctor nodded. Rose assured her mum that there would be with a firm, "Of course."

Jackie seemed appeased, and thankfully returned to her spot inside the church. The Doctor stared at Rose expectantly. When she didn't say anything, he prompted, "Well?"

"I was sort of…caught up, myself."

"Where?"

Rose winced. "There was an issue. With a report I wrote up the other day - "

He cut in swiftly, incredulous, "You were late to our wedding because you wanted to amend some _paperwork?_"

She shifted from foot to foot. "Look, I just…I needed a breather. It was - Doctor, you don't know what it was like, this morning, for me. All those people around, Mum and her friends and my friends all in the guest wing of the mansion, doing my hair and make-up and prancing around in their dresses and talking about flowers and how beautiful the ceremony was gonna be and how everyone was gonna be staring at me and how nice I looked in my dress and joking about how I'd better not trip up the aisle and if I could just direct the bouquet-throwing towards Aoife, that'd be grand, and would you like some champagne, Rose, ease your nerves? And what about something blue, something borrowed, Rose, have you got those covered? And why didn't you say you weren't quite happy with how the dress fits, we could've altered it sooner!"

The Doctor blinked at her in astonishment, not knowing where to start with all that. "Well, firstly…that dress fits you perfectly, I don't know what you - "

"It's still a bit loose 'round here," Rose complained, gesturing to her chest, before grumbling, "Should've got a wonderbra, filled it out a bit better."

He raised his eyebrows. "Look, Rose, you are gorgeous, radiant and beautiful, and all those things - "

"All right, thanks, but listen, I just…I freaked out. There. I said it. I freaked out a bit. That's all. Suddenly all I could think about was legging it the hell out of there."

He stroked his hand down her arm in concern, before lacing their fingers together. "So what did you do?"

Rose sniffed guiltily. "I made up some story about you calling me. Said it was an emergency. And then I…ran. Sort of. A bit. I shoved my heels in my bag and grabbed my converses and then I drove to work, sat in my office for a bit. Thinking. And, um. Finished up some stuff, and then…" She gestured behind her. "I came here. Sat on that bench, where you found me just now. Realised I couldn't leave you standing there at the altar like a lemon, but I couldn't quite - go in. And then you showed up, you weren't inside like I thought. And I'd left my phone behind and so I didn't know that Mum thought we were off somewhere together."

The Doctor nodded, swallowing hard. "And…when you saw me, what did - how did you feel?"

"Relieved," she said, then smiled at him. "Relieved that you were late too, that I hadn't ruined it. That - that we could go in together. That's - I realised, when you came bounding up the path behind those flowers, with your pinstripes and your mad hair. I realised that I needed - I wanted us to go in together. I couldn't - they are all gonna _stare_ at me."

His lips quirked. "You've never been shy before."

"I just…I know it's stupid, I know this doesn't even mean anything, really; not like we aren't practically married as it is. But - I dunno. I just freaked out. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Doctor. I didn't even want to tell you all this. I thought, when you came up to me just now, that it was perfect, that you wouldn't have to know that I got scared."

"Rose," he murmured.

"Yeah?" she asked, sounding distressed, wincing as she waited for his response.

"Do you want to marry me?"

"Yes," she said, with no hesitation.

"Are you sure? Because you don't have to."

"I do want to. I just had a funny five minutes. Well, two hours. But that's - that's all. I want to marry you. Right now."

He let go of her hand and gripped her upper arms, making sure she stared into his eyes steadily. "I want to marry you right now, too."

Rose smiled and nodded. "Okay," she breathed out. "Then, let's do this."

"Allonsy?" he remarked.

"Allonsy."

He pressed his shoulder to the door, ready to open it.

"Take my hand," Rose said quickly. He did, and squeezed tightly.

"You sure you don't want your Mum or Pete walking you down the aisle? Cos I can dash down to the front if you like, and then we'll get the music playing and - "

"No, like I said, I just…I want us to walk down together. I put the heels back on. Might trip over this long dress; I'll need you there to hold me up and not make me look like an idiot."

"Rose Tyler," he said, shaking his head fondly. "You are ridiculous. Lovely and ridiculous and completely all mine, and in a few minutes, you're going to be my wife. You on board with that?"

"Definitely," she whispered, a lump in her throat. "Definitely on board." He went to open the door again and she stopped him. "No, wait, just a sec. Doctor. I wasn't - it was just a moment, yeah? I do want this, and I wouldn't've run away."

"Not too late to elope, you know," he suggested.

"It is too late," she snorted. "It'd devastate Mum. Plus, we've got that really nice cake at the reception to look forward to."

"That is true," he said. "I want first dibs on that cake."

"If we do it early on in the reception, the cutting the cake thing, we can leg it out of there and start our honeymoon a bit early, how's that sound?"

"I knew I was marrying you for a reason," he said, pleased, and they pushed open the church doors with their free hands.


End file.
